My Company HSA - Trimming The FAT(tys)

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Event_Horizon975
Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
in Chit-Chat
I'm sure I'm not alone in this but my company's health insurance, over the past two years, has moved to HSAs. This can be ideal depending on your circumstances (unless you're like me and have a child who needed surgery, meds, multiple doc visits, etc) ....but I digress.

This coming year, my company is WITHDRAWING their corporate contribution to our HSA if our waist circumference falls outside a certain parameter. So, even if an individual lives a healthy lifestyle, has lost a ton of weight, made awesome progress, and is working toward an ideal weight / waist circumference, they'll get nailed in the pocket. Nice. .
..All the while, utilized gym memberships don't count for anything, dieticians don't count, etc It's a broken system.

So, weight / BMI (despite someone's progress) is a pre-existing condition? This makes me mad.
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Replies

  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
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    Welcome to America. BMI is such a fail.
  • sixout
    sixout Posts: 3,128 Member
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    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
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    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.

    Negative. It's not an extra benefit. It's a previous benefit being taken away (and I should still receive it btw)..... I feel it to be discriminatory. If you had asthma, cancer, crohn's, gout....whatever......Should your contribution be withdrawn because you'd hit them in the pocket with extra medical expenses from a pre-exisiting condition???
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
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    It's policies like this that make me grateful to work for a small family owned company.
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
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    It's policies like this that make me grateful to work for a small family owned company.

    Yes!! I miss working for smaller companies for a lot of reasons!!!
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    I feel ya man.
  • sixout
    sixout Posts: 3,128 Member
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    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.

    Negative. It's not an extra benefit. It's a previous benefit being taken away (and I should still receive it btw)..... I feel it to be discriminatory. If you had asthma, cancer, crohn's, gout....whatever......Should your contribution be withdrawn because you'd hit them in the pocket with extra medical expenses from a pre-exisiting condition???

    It's more than what is mandatory, therefore it's still an extra. They have the right to take that extra away unless you change things to make yourself healthier.
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
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    I feel ya man.
    I'm a woman but thanks! :drinker:
  • lorenzovonmatterhorn7549
    lorenzovonmatterhorn7549 Posts: 495 Member
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    The whole per-existing thing should be against the law
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
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    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.

    Negative. It's not an extra benefit. It's a previous benefit being taken away (and I should still receive it btw)..... I feel it to be discriminatory. If you had asthma, cancer, crohn's, gout....whatever......Should your contribution be withdrawn because you'd hit them in the pocket with extra medical expenses from a pre-exisiting condition???

    It's more than what is mandatory, therefore it's still an extra. They have the right to take that extra away unless you change things to make yourself healthier.
    Yeah, they're certainly exercising their right, which is legal. ......for now Since when are all policies right not to mention morally sound?
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
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    Thank god I live in Canada :flowerforyou: our health care isn't perfect, neither is our insurance coverage, but it's better than this.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    I feel ya man.
    I'm a woman but thanks! :drinker:

    Oh whoops!

    Well, you should still have a health insurance plan outside of the HSA. HSAs require a high deductible insurance plan. All an HSA is is an investment vehicle for using pre-tax dollars for qualifying medical expenses.

    My company recently came out with a two tiered system. Standard and Enhanced. The enhanced was the old standard. Now, we have to qualify for the enhanced levels, including being under a certain BMI.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    I feel sorry for any men who are muscular
  • Krissy366
    Krissy366 Posts: 458 Member
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    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.

    Negative. It's not an extra benefit. It's a previous benefit being taken away (and I should still receive it btw)..... I feel it to be discriminatory. If you had asthma, cancer, crohn's, gout....whatever......Should your contribution be withdrawn because you'd hit them in the pocket with extra medical expenses from a pre-exisiting condition???

    It's more than what is mandatory, therefore it's still an extra. They have the right to take that extra away unless you change things to make yourself healthier.

    My issue with this type of thing is it's arbitary. There are so many things that can make a person an insurance risk. Participation in extreme sports, smoking, drinking, genetic pre-dispositions, bad driving (as it relates to potential health impacts, I don't mean car insurance), etc. etc. Taking one factor and declaring it what makes a person unhealthy (or an insurance risk) is ridiculous. I also think we are a long way from determining a lot of the realities of health.
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
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    I feel sorry for any men who are muscular

    Oh wow!! I hadn't thought of that!!! Geez! It's such a crock.
  • jlcrph
    jlcrph Posts: 41 Member
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    i am a bit ambivalent about this one. The stark reality is overweight individuals cost employers more to insure so it could be argued that those employees should contribute more to the cost of their care. I view obesity a bit differently than say Multiple Sclerosis or Crohn's Disease as obesity is within our control (albeit controlling it isn't easy or fun). My preference would be to do what my employer did which was to not penalize those that lowered their BMI by a certain # of points in the last year... to allow people to correct their behavior and lose weight over time.
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
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    Thank god I live in Canada :flowerforyou: our health care isn't perfect, neither is our insurance coverage, but it's better than this.

    Well that's the thing. In Canada attention is paid to what's RIGHT rather than just to what's cheapest.
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
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    I feel sorry for any men who are muscular

    Oh wow!! I hadn't thought of that!!! Geez! It's such a crock.

    Well that's kinda my point too, which is why I said BMI is such a fail. I know plenty of HUGE lifters who would actually show up as morbidly obese on some chart somewhere. It's pretty sad.
  • Event_Horizon975
    Event_Horizon975 Posts: 226 Member
    Options
    A lot of companies offer extra benefits for those in shape. Just because someone says they're "on the right track" doesn't mean they are. So, it gives people a goal. Get here, and you get extras.

    I don't see a problem with it.

    Negative. It's not an extra benefit. It's a previous benefit being taken away (and I should still receive it btw)..... I feel it to be discriminatory. If you had asthma, cancer, crohn's, gout....whatever......Should your contribution be withdrawn because you'd hit them in the pocket with extra medical expenses from a pre-exisiting condition???

    It's more than what is mandatory, therefore it's still an extra. They have the right to take that extra away unless you change things to make yourself healthier.

    My issue with this type of thing is it's arbitary. There are so many things that can make a person an insurance risk. Participation in extreme sports, smoking, drinking, genetic pre-dispositions, bad driving (as it relates to potential health impacts, I don't mean car insurance), etc. etc. Taking one factor and declaring it what makes a person unhealthy (or an insurance risk) is ridiculous. I also think we are a long way from determining a lot of the realities of health.

    Yes! BMI, as well know is a HUGE problem in America (and other nations). BUT it's ONE piece of the puzzle. I could be the ideal weight & stature, be a non-smoker, and have other habits or conditions that put me a very high risk & they'd never know. It's discrimination & NOT the whole picture.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    Thank god I live in Canada :flowerforyou: our health care isn't perfect, neither is our insurance coverage, but it's better than this.

    What wrong? You dont like the idea of having to be fearful your preexsisting condition will prevent you from having the ability to get healthcare, you dont like the idea that a company can base how much you pay on a ratio, you dont like the idea of having to be taxed for not having healthcare insurance, you dont like the idea of having big insurance lobbies getting to manipulate laws to provide health insurance, you dont want to live in a courntry that pays the most in health care then any other country despite not having the highest standard of care and continued high rates of infant and maternal mortality? What's wrong with you?

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